My brain was somewhat addled yesterday. I woke up feeling fuzzy headed (which I’m sure had nothing to do with the wine I’d had the night before) and en route to meeting my friend for a coffee I stopped to get some cash out….but couldn’t for the life of me remember my PIN.  Sitting in the cafe, chatting away, I was forced to pause regularly while I wracked my brain seeking the words I couldn’t quite remember: words like “the”, “and” and “frying pan”.  And something went wrong when I tried to pay for the things I hadn’t meant to buy in IKEA, I typed in the PIN my mum had been kind enough to remind me of…and the transaction was declined.  Presumably I got the number wrong because it worked fine the second time.  Clearly something was amiss (I’m certain it wasn’t the wine…). I’m more or less back to normal now but it’s too late, the damage is done. For in the midst of my befuddlement something happened, something BIG and that I may very well live to regret: I agreed to run a marathon.  Not a half marathon. Nope. A whole marathon, 26.2 miles of undulating roads and redways around Milton Keynes.

We get a plethora of freebie newspapers here (yes, two a week IS a plethora) and on the front of yesterday’s offering was the news that MK would host its first marathon, open to 6,500 runners of all abilities. I’m not sure what happened but let it be known that Adam is an accomplished manipulator of people (I’ve seen him in action, it’s impressive) so I suspect he worked his mojo on me and suddenly I was walking around saying (in a monotone, slightly detached from myself) “We should do that, I’ve always wanted to do a marathon…” Yes, that must be it, it was a nerdy mind trick, no free will involved whatsoever.

Now, it’s not completely the end of the world, because I do run. Well, jog. OK, plod. But although I’ve done the Great South Run 3 times before and have participated in the Race for Life once or twice, those were in Portsmouth and Portsmouth is flat as a pancake.  And the Great South is 10 miles, it’s not even a half marathon. And thinking about it, I’ve struggled round every single time, especially those last 2 miles along the never ending seafront with the wind buffeting you from all directions. So really this is lunacy, even though I’ve been working on my speed on the treadmill and desperately trying to get a teeny bit faster.  Whereas Adam has been pounding the streets and the treadmill, sometimes with my eldest son, increasing his speed so that he can now run 3 miles in under 20 minutes and 5 miles in around 35. Gulp. I feel it pertinent to mention that Adam’s renewed interest in running occurred when his younger brother took it up some months ago and started to get quite good at it and lose weight. Coincidence? Hmmmm.

So that’s it, it’s done, we have entered and on 29th April 2012 we will be standing in Stadium MK “raring” to go and I will be quaking in my running shoes. This gives us 10 months to train and I fully intend to start on Monday, having found several 14 week training programmes to follow. I have worked out I can do them three times over with two weeks to spare.  What fun!  It is a serious commitment but is probably the kick up the bum I need to get me really properly training and if it’s not too dull I will try and do regular blog updates.  Assuming the training doesn’t go horribly wrong I am thinking of running for charity and would quite like to raise money for Diabetes UK in memory of my friend Julian who died early this year. I’ll let you know how to sponsor me nearer the time.

In the meantime, I am running the 10k Race for Life on July 24th in memory of my friend Lizzie who also died early this year after a long battle with breast cancer. You can sponsor me here.

The moral of this story is never allow yourself to make a decision on a day when your mind has been playing up!